


title of your audition tape

by setrevuo



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Sexual Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 22:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27833449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/setrevuo/pseuds/setrevuo
Summary: "Why in my right mind would I ever choose you as my sidekick?""Because you need me. And," Jaehyun reduces their distance until their faces are inextricably close, to which Johnny's adam's apple painfully bobs up and down, "Youwantme."
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 21
Kudos: 91
Collections: Coffee Dates Fest [1st Round]





	title of your audition tape

**Author's Note:**

> for: coffee dates fic fest, order number #0026
> 
> hello, prompter! this was such a fun idea to work with so thank you very much for the prompt! i hope you enjoy ♡

“Are we rolling?”

“Ready in 3, 2…”

The camera shows a montage of a long audition line wrapped around a building. It pans down the line before turning to a suited gentleman sweetly smiling. He fixes his tie, taps at his headset, and then nods at the camera. 

“Coming to you live, welcome to the Superhero Corporate headquarters! My name is Jungwoo, and I'll be your host for Second Star, the upcoming survival show to find the perfect sidekick for our city’s renowned superhero, Johnny!” Jungwoo pauses as fans behind him whoop and holler.

“Johnny, marry me!” An excited voice yells out behind Jungwoo, holding up a giant poster with glitter letters echoing their words.

Taking the cameraman’s cue to walk forward, Jungwoo continues speaking into the camera as it pans down the line again. “What we see here is an impressive but unsurprising turnout for the audition. Supers from all over the state have been standing in line for hours for this exciting opportunity!”

Jungwoo turns the building corner following the line. Up ahead, the line forms into something of a large, gawking crowd centered around someone. 

“What do we have here?” Jungwoo asks. “A special auditioner, perhaps? Let’s check it out!”

The cameraman breaks into a jog, zooming into the scene. The people congregating make way when they see the camera crew. And there, leaning against the building wall and looking completely unfazed at all the attention around him, one man scrolls through his phone.

“Oh?” Jungwoo stares at him, shock genuinely evident and breaking his professional façade. He turns to the camera, shaking his head with a grin. “Folks, I can’t believe I’m saying this. Here in line, auditioning for the role of Johnny's superhero sidekick, is none other than the infamous supervillain sidekick, Jung Jaehyun!”

[]

Doyoung sneaks into the interview room in between candidates. He doesn’t have an official title but everyone knows he’s Taeyong’s right-hand man. And when Doyoung has something to tell Johnny, it usually doesn’t bode well for Johnny.

“The viewership has shot up ever since the next contestant showed up on screen,” Doyoung murmurs as he slips a piece of paper across the desk. “Taeyong wants you to pass him.”

“Great to see the CEO values my opinion,” Johnny grumbles. It was Taeyong's decision to hire a sidekick for Johnny. As if Johnny hasn't been working perfectly fine solo all these years. But arguing with a precog is a moot affair, so Johnny has been reluctantly going along. “Who is it, anyway?”

The timing is perfect because who strolls in but the man of the hour. Jung Jaehyun, villainous sidekick of Johnny's singular arch nemesis, Haechan.

Today, Jaehyun's wearing his typically offensive eyeliner, tight black jeans, a leather jacket, and gelled hair strategically styled over his forehead. Atrocious, Johnny thinks. Jaehyun probably took his sweet time getting dressed, fawning over himself in front of the mirror for hours. But then Johnny's mind steps into dangerous territory, and he suddenly considers flying straight out the window and into the sun.

Jaehyun sees Johnny pinking and grins. “Thought I'd try something more business casual today.” 

The camera crew around the room’s perimeter has begun rolling. Three cameras, lighting, and staging crew quickly move to make sure everything is caught on camera.

Johnny smiles as he bites down any semblance of outwardly hate. He’s a superhero, for heaven’s sake. He’s meant to be the ideal citizen, sweet and well-mannered and loved by all. But that doesn’t stop him from spilling out a little bit of honesty. “Is runway model attire called business casual these days? You look fu-” Johnny manages to bite his tongue at the last second. “Fantastic.”

Jaehyun has that smug smile as he plops down on the chair. It's the smile that's caught Johnny's attention at the most inopportune moments during their battles, one that's an impossibly equal match against Johnny's super strength.

Johnny begins genially enough. “First question. What are you looking for in a career?” 

“Before we begin.” Jaehyun's dimples infuriate Johnny to no end. How dare they be so bold, mocking him for the weak man he is. “Do I have your permission to be candid?” 

Johnny slowly exhales.

“What I'm looking for,” Jaehyun continues as he demurely stares at Johnny, bringing a finger up to play with his lower lip, “is exactly this.” 

Patience, Johnny. Now is not the time to release your anger. “Don’t touch your mouth, it’s unsanitary.” 

“Or what, you’ll punish me?” And then Jaehyun has the nerve to pout with those stupid, stupid puppy eyes. 

Johnny gapes in disgust before reverting back to his poker face. “Moving on.” He reads over the resume in front of him – as if he doesn’t know every minor detail of the guy sitting in front of him. “Why do you want this job?”

“I have the experience as a sidekick.” Jaehyun props up his arm on the desk and rests his cheek against his hand, twirling a lock of hair with his finger. Not a shred of respect this man has for him, Johnny thinks bitterly. “And I enjoy being led,” Jaehyun pauses, “or followed, if that’s what you prefer.”

Below the desk, Johnny clenches his fists. He's going to run through several slabs of concrete tonight. But for now, he vows to keep his pleasant demeanor for the cameras, politely laughing on cue - he's a natural on-screen charm, after all. "I see," he nods curtly before picking up a pencil to scribble some notes. 

"Nice grip on that stick."

Johnny slams down the pencil harder than he'd have liked. And unfortunately for Johnny, the camera catches the sound of it cracking into two. Johnny closes his eyes.

"Did I do something?" Jaehyun asks, doe-eyed and innocent enough to deserve a punch square in the face.

"Alright, then," Johnny holds on to his defenses as they continue to crumble. "What has been your biggest accomplishment to date?"

Jaehyun hums, still playful as ever. "You."

"What," Johnny deadpans the most intelligent way.

"I mean, they weren't official dates," Jaehyun muses, eyes dreamy in thought. "But the chemistry has always been there in our many rendezvous."

"Rende-" Johnny sputters, momentarily forgetting his original question. "Those were battles! We were fighting!"

"Yeah," Jaehyun sighs happily. "Best dates I've ever had."

It's all a mental game, really. Johnny knows that. He just has to put up with this demon for a few episodes-worth for the views, that's all. There's no chance Jaehyun's getting into his head today, not when Johnny's face is being broadcasted on television. 

So Johnny clears his throat and surges on. "What prompted you to apply to Superhero Corporate?"

"Wanted a change of pace," Jaehyun shrugs, leaning back as he examines his fingers. "But for you, I can go as fast or as slow as you'd like."

As Johnny is struggling to maintain some semblance of authority, Doyoung pops in, beyond the camera frame in the corner of Johnny's sight and mouths, " _Taeyong approves_."

And so, Johnny ends up saying, in his utmost professionalism, "Congratulations, you're moving onto the next round!"

Jaehyun beams. "Delighted." 

Only once the cameras turn off does Johnny drop his act. Jaehyun doesn't bother getting up from his chair, and leans in with a grin as Johnny's scowl deepens. 

"Just to let you know," Johnny growls quietly. "I only said yes to you for the audience retention, so don’t get any big ideas."

Jaehyun pretends to dab at his cheek. “He said yes!”

If the cameramen still weren't around, Johnny would've hoped to _really_ make Jaehyun cry. Instead, he takes a deep breath and asks, with all the disgust he could muster, "Why in my right mind would I ever choose _you_ as my sidekick?"

"Because you need me. And," Jaehyun reduces their distance until their faces are inextricably close, to which Johnny's adam's apple painfully bobs up and down, "You _want_ me."

With the last of his composure, Johnny spits out, “You must like yourself a lot, don’t you?”

"Oh," Jaehyun's eyes twinkle and for a moment Johnny is blinded into a trance. “Very much.”

[]

Dramatic background music crescendos as the screen switches between wide-angle shots of superhero Johnny saving the day.

“And now,” Jungwoo’s voice declares over the introductory clip, “what you all have been waiting for. Second Star’s quarterfinals have begun!”

The screen transitions to Jungwoo in a smart, neatly pressed suit standing on stage with a headset mic. 

“Today we will witness a test of skill. With our advanced simulation, the chamber behind me will judge these eight candidates to determine their technical prowess. Who will be one step closer to shine next to our superhero? Stay tuned to find out! And without further ado, Johnny, himself!”

The screen switches to another camera, this one facing a long table making up the only member of the audience. The table is composed of a complicated panel of buttons and levers. In the center sits Johnny, who smiles at the camera, poised and polished.

“To start off, the first contestant of the day! Jaehyun, how are you feeling?”

The camera cuts to the stage again. Immediately, another round of music rises in volume as the larger stage lights illuminate the scene. Jaehyun stands in the center of a massive, empty chamber examining his nails.

"Bored." Jaehyun looks at Johnny. "I'm an attractive man waiting to be entertained. Go ahead, shoot."

The camera then pans to Johnny, who presses a button that causes a million missiles and guns to pop out and point straight at Jaehyun. 

Jaehyun rolls his eyes but doesn't seem particularly alarmed. "Not literally. Don’t you know what my power is? Oh, Johnny,” he tuts. “How long have we known each other?" 

Johnny reluctantly presses another button to withdraw the weapons. "Of course. You are a memory eraser. Only villains stoop down to such lows."

"Offense!" Jaehyun holds his chest. "It's not like I got to decide my power."

"In any case, your power would have no use here. Our citizens' minds are a private matter." 

Jaehyun scoffs. "That's right, you guys only hurt the citizen’s wallet." 

“Hold on,” Johnny straightens, angry. He's a company man, after all. "Superhero tax does this community good, alright? But you wouldn’t care about that.”

"Hey!" Jaehyun pouts again, and Johnny is thankful the camera can't capture his steel grip on his chair to stop him from flying through the chamber and strangling him to death, once and for all. Jaehyun sighs. "You've been _so_ mean to me this whole audition.”

“You’ve walked in with an entire decade of villainous deeds behind you. You better suck it up.”

And just like that, Jaehyun's pitiful face is lit up. “Oh, I will, gladly.”

Johnny flushes red. He's trying, really trying to keep it down, but it's hard to fight basic biological instincts. Instincts to crush Jaehyun's windpipes, to clarify, and most certainly nothing else. “You know what, I don’t even know why we let you walk into superhero headquarters without a power debilitator."

“Why, do you want to see me in shackles?” 

It's becoming harder and harder for Johnny to keep a cool face. “What guarantee do I have that you won’t wipe my memories and make me forget I was ever a super?”

“Because I’m in them, of course,” Jaehyun says with utmost seriousness. “And I know how much you value us together.”

“Is this some kind of game to you, Jaehyun?”

“Only if I’m winning.”

Johnny closes his eyes for what might be the hundredth time in the past five minutes. “Look, I know you’re not interested in this superhero sidekick position. You’re just here for shits and giggles and I’m fine with that, as long as you don’t cross a line, alright? Don't play dumb with me.”

“Honestly? I _am_ dumb. Most of the time, I'm actually playing smart.”

Johnny swears before pressing a series of buttons on the panel in front of him. “Show me what you got, then.”

To Johnny's abject horror, Jaehyun performs exceptionally at every single thing he throws at him.

[]

“With only four candidates remaining, we have arrived at the semifinals of Second Star!” Jungwoo flourishes his arms out. “The race is tight, and all four of these potential sidekicks have gone through tireless efforts to get here. But who has what it takes to reach the finals?”

Cameras glide across the stage to show the new simulated setup of a fictional city within the chamber. 

Jungwoo’s voice continues in the background as the screen closes up on the simulation’s realistic details.

“In this test, contestants are paired together and must complete a mission while protecting each other. After all, teamwork is the most important pillar between a superhero and their sidekick! Let’s hear a word from our first pair before we begin, shall we?” 

A lanky boy shuffles his feet before launching into an introduction. “Hey, Johnny, I just wanna say again that I'm a huge fan, and, like, I'm thankful to even have this opportunity to get this far in the audition. I'm quick on my feet, and if you hire me I promise I'll never leave your side.”

Johnny laughs. “Thanks for stroking my ego, Mark.”

“Oh,” Jaehyun throws Johnny a suggestive look from where he stands next to Mark. “You like having your ego stroked, is it?”

For a second it looks like Johnny is short-circuiting. But it’s only a second before he composes himself with a flat face. He's getting better at this. “Right, so we’ve heard from both contestants. Shall we begin?”

The simulation is long and complex. It all takes place in the outskirts of a city, where arsonists wreck havoc on a residential city street.

By the end, it almost seems like the test would go into overtime: Mark spends most of time inside the buildings, using his superspeed to take the trapped people out. Meanwhile, Jaehyun expertly targets the arsonists’ memories one by one, making them forget what they were about to do before they could set any more fires. But in a moment of unpreparedness, the floors above Mark suddenly collapse over him. 

Just as Johnny is about to kick off the Resurrect on Mark, Johnny thinks he’s spotted a miracle.

Once the dust and the debris subside, Johnny witnesses a completely unscratched Mark coughing as he climbs out of the wreckage. 

“Are you-” Johnny stills, shocked. “Mark, are you invincible, too?”

Jaehyun beats Mark to the punch. “Of course not. I just gave him a hand.”

Johnny squints. Jaehyun appears vaguely out of breath and stooped over, but he doesn't comment on that. Johnny clicks a button to turn off the simulation so that only the two contestants remain in the chamber. “So you did what, made Mark forget he was hurt and he just became unhurt again?”

Jaehyun waves a hand. He appears to be recovering from whatever unknown ailment, although slowly. “My power is wiping memories. That includes both the memories in the brain and the ones in cells."

“You can regress injuries?" Johnny gapes. "You have the power of _healing_? And you just, what, kept it a secret all this time?” Johnny huffs despite himself, while Mark stares at Jaehyun and then at his own perfectly untouched body. “This kind of power could do some incredible good among the heroes community. Why didn’t you join the heroes from the start?” 

“Because the work-life balance at Superhero Corporate is a joke.”

“Excuse me?”

“Like,” Jaehyun gestures, “say you’re going home from work and you see a car crash. Do you expect me to heal the injured, even if it’s after my work hours?”

“Of course!” 

“There you go.” Jaehyun ends in a wink.

“Whatever,” Johnny waves it off, suddenly preoccupied with the panel. He can't expect a villain to understand doing good for goodness's sake. Especially not Jaehyun, who isn't good for anybody, least of all for Johnny and his embarrassingly palpitating heart. “It’s not like this secret power of yours will help me, anyway. Not when I’m already invincible.”

“Right.”

[]

The screen first shows an aerial shot of the Superhero Corporate headquarters. It’s the night before the Second Star finale, and up at the rooftop a banquet is held. Guests from the entire spectrum of the superhero community are there, dressed in tuxedos and gowns. 

“You’ve got this in the bag, Yuta,” Johnny places a hand on Yuta’s shoulder and raises a glass to clink. 

“I don’t know,” Yuta shrugs, but clearly proud with pinked cheeks. “Jaehyun’s got potential, too. The finale will be interesting.”

“Nonsense. Tomorrow’s nothing but a formality.”

“I’m literally right here,” Jaehyun speaks up from behind Johnny. 

Johnny sighs. “Yes, you are. It's a mystery you've made it this far.”

“Really is,” Jaehyun notes, sagely tapping his chin. “Especially since you’re the only judge and all up 'till now.”

“Anyways.” Johnny would like nothing more in the world than Jaehyun be eliminated. But somehow, Jaehyun's been aceing whatever Johnny's thrown at him. So what if Johnny can't help that he's a fair and honest judge? Doesn't that only speak to Johnny's goodness? He glances at Jaehyun from the corner of his eye. “I’m hoping you didn’t burn your bridges with your former employer, since, you know, you aren’t getting _this_ job. Is Haechan still out looking for a backfill?"

Jaehyun snorts. "On the contrary. He’s already replaced me," he finishes with a mumble.

"Oh?" Seeing Jaehyun drop his typical charismatic confidence to have insecurity peek through makes Johnny's stomach flip over. But if he's unconsciously moved closer to Jaehyun in concern, then that's nobody's business but Johnny's. "Should I be worried about the new guy?" 

"Of course not," Jaehyun says a little too quickly. He tries to smoothen it out with his signature dimpled smile. "Nobody can be as bad as me. I'm one of a kind, baby."

“Mhmm,” Johnny frowns.

A sudden, echoing blast is heard across the city and commotion rings across the rooftop. Near the horizon, a raging fire has erupted, illuminating the night. 

“Speak of the devil.” Johnny breaks into a run and he takes off his jacket.

“Wait- let me come with!” Jaehyun yells out.

“Not a chance!” Johnny doesn’t even look back as he jumps over the side of the building and flies. This wouldn’t be the first time Johnny’s had to take on Haechan and his fire manipulation games alone.

It’s not until Johnny gets closer that he realizes that it’s not simply a fire, but a living, moving fire _tornado_. 

The fire is in an empty, quiet part of the city outskirts. No humans are around as far as Johnny can see, but destruction of industrial property has always been one of Haechan’s trademarks. But this new and unfamiliar component of extreme winds throws Johnny off - literally. 

"Let me introduce you to my new thang!" Johnny registers Haechan cackling from the tall, swirling mass of flames before he freefalls down.

He doesn’t know how long he’s out. He comes to consciousness slowly, his vision foggy and he smells seared cotton. But more apparent are aching burns on his chest and his left arm not feeling entirely in one piece. 

But Johnny isn’t supposed to get hurt. A throbbing headache adds to his pain as he tries to understand what’s going on. He could’ve flown in any other circumstance, but his injuries hardly let him sit up on his own. 

“Johnny!” Jaehyun’s voice booms through the high winds and the crackling fire. The tornado turns into the street they are on, and when Jaehyun spots Johnny sprawled on the ground, he rushes over. 

“Why are you here?” Johnny’s voice is hoarse as he struggles to get up. His emotions are in complete turmoil, swinging from rage to fear to a strange sense of relief, all somehow directed at Jaehyun.

"You can't do this without me!" Jaehyun shouts over the approaching flames. He holds Johnny’s shoulders for support, but Johnny shrugs them off.

“No,” Johnny spits out in between gasps, grinding his teeth as he surveys the scene. On his feet but wobbly, he extends his good arm out to place himself between Jaehyun and the approaching tornado. “Get behind me!” 

To which Jaehyun stumbles into Johnny’s back, suddenly weak and breaths staggered. He wraps his arms around Johnny’s chest, leans into his ear, and says, “Fly, you dummy.” 

“But I can’t! I'm hurt!” But just as the words leave his mouth, he knows he’s wrong. By being so focused on the raging fire approaching them, Johnny only now notices that his burns and broken bones have been healed. Confused, he grips Jaehyun before shooting up.

“There,” Jaehyun points at a high balcony on a nearby building, one still with a view of the tornado. “Set me there before you get back to Haechan.”

Johnny props Jaehyun to sit propped against the balcony railings. Behind where Johnny stands, the fire still rages. It’s all ridiculous, and frankly annoying, to the point where Johnny forgets he has a time-sensitive Haechan special to clean up. 

“Hey,” Johnny pokes Jaehyun’s shoulder harder than he’d have liked, making him wince, before gesturing to his healed skin peeking through his ripped dress shirt. “This was you, huh?”

Jaehyun is exhausted, half-lidded and wheezing, but that doesn’t stop him from running his mouth. “You’d look better with that shirt off.”

“Shut up,” Johnny frowns, thinking. He asks slowly, afraid of the answer he’ll get. “Have you healed me before?” 

Jaehyun only responds with a knowing stare up at Johnny, and that’s enough for Johnny’s worry lines to deepen.

His look makes Jaehyun snort. “What, you thought you had flying, superstrength, _and_ invincibility? Leave some for the rest of us.”

“I just thought the last two powers went hand in hand,” Johnny mumbles. “Makes logical sense.”

“Hello? We’re _supers_. Logic doesn’t have a place here.”

Johnny squats down so he’s eye-level, starting to feel guilty for Jaehyun’s current state. “How long does your recovery normally take?”

“Seconds, if I was there from the start,” Jaehyun glowers. Johnny looks down sheepishly. “But another minute and I'll be peachy.”

"Thank-"

"Don't. Showing me your pretty face is enough," Jaehyun grins. "Just take me with you next time.”

"Can't make any promises." But Johnny finally cracks a smile, standing up. He offers a hand, and Jaehyun takes it, hoisting himself up.

Jaehyun jerks his chin at the roaring fire. "Now kick some ass. I got you."

[]

“Here we are, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the grand finale of Second Star!” Jungwoo’s voice is clear over the triumphant background music. “By the end of the night, we will have a crowned superhero sidekick for Johnny, and for our wonderful city!”

The camera shows the panel where Johnny sits, but today he’s flanked on both sides by Taeyong and Doyoung.

“We have two guest judges especially for today!” Jungwoo continues. “Doyoung, who needs no introduction,” Doyoung briefly nods at the camera. “And last, but certainly not the least, the CEO of Superhero Corporate, Taeyong!” Taeyong gives a wave and a smile. “Our final test will explore what Taeyong has especially sought out in superheroes: Compassion. How will our two finalists line up? Shall we find out together?”

The chamber is empty, other than two couches angled towards each other.

Johnny is nervous. He should’ve downvoted Taeyong’s idea and instead suggested a less difficult test, especially for someone like Jaehyun. The concept is for each contestant to talk to an actual villain - the catch is that the contestant has to be _nice_. Superheroes are first and foremost, good people. They must resist the temptation to harm, even those who are evil.

"First up, Yuta!" Jungwoo's voice rings out as the contestant strides onto the stage. "And with our in-house telepath Doyoung, we've found his ultimate arch nemesis in Taeil, a supervillain from a city miles over but with a reputation that precedes him. How will Yuta's humanity fare under pressure?"

The two take their seats and their face-off sets the air crackling with tension. Both of them wear power debilitating harnesses, but that doesn’t hold back their words.

To Yuta’s defense, he’s solid in being a patient and responsive listener. He’s been an outsider before, and it works to his favor. In the end, Taeyong rises in applause. 

“What a remarkable performance by Yuta!” Jungwoo says. “Can Jaehyun top it?”

Johnny braces for the hit, clutching the panel until the whites of his knuckles showed.

The camera moves back to the chamber, now with Jaehyun, waiting for the other person to join him.

“Mark?” Johnny blurts out before Mark even fully sits down down, making him hover awkwardly as he glances up. “ _That’s_ your nemesis?”

“If you’ll let me explain,” Jaehyun glares at Johnny. “Mark here is Haechan’s new sidekick. After all that big talk about how he’ll _never_ leave your side, where does he run to next? Into the arms of the guy who wants to kill you.”

“Hold on,” Mark raises a hand. “Haechan’s never wanted to kill you. Also, I didn’t run into his arms,” he looks down as he pretends to fix his bangs.

“Oh, my apologies then,” Jaehyun makes a face at Mark, all while Johnny’s stress level increases at the state of this conversation. “He just wants to permanently maim Johnny, that’s all.” 

“Not true, Haechan just wants to bring down corp-”

“Don’t you have any self-respect to be working for that monster?”

“Um,” Mark laughs uncomfortably. “Didn’t you used to work for him, too?”

Jaehyun hushes Mark. “History. All in the past. We look to the future now. A future that involves removing every trace of you from this planet.”

Taeyong lightly coughs. 

“What?” Jaehyun asks. “Am I not doing this right?” He turns back to Mark. “What do you think? Should I be nice to you?”

“Dunno,” Mark shifts in his seat, stuffing his hands below his thighs. “Do you want this job?”

“A difficult choice.” Jaehyun looks up at the ceiling.

Johnny clears his throat.

“Can I tell you something?” Mark eventually asks Jaehyun after a beat. Jaehyun shrugs, and Mark moves over to the other couch. Johnny suddenly wishing he had super-hearing, or at least mind-reading, when Mark whispers something in Jaehyun’s ear.

Revelation falls on Jaehyun’s face shortly after Mark moves his head away. Jaehyun firmly wraps an arm around Mark’s shoulder. “Alright, we’re best friends now. Did I win?”

“Wait,” Johnny exchanges glances between the other judges. “What did Mark tell you?”

“Secret. All I can say is, Mark's a good guy. I look forward to working against him.” Jaehyun grabs onto Mark’s hand and brings it to his chest, looking genuinely teary-eyed. “He gets me, you know?”

“No, I don’t,” Johnny slowly says. He looks at Taeyong and Doyoung again, to confirm, and he has a defeated look as he does. “That wasn’t enough, was it?”

Doyoung is biting down his lips to keep from laughing out loud, and Taeyong wrinkles his nose with a grin as he announces, “Time for the judges deliberation!”

[]

“And the winner to take on the coveted role of Johnny’s superhero sidekick is… Jaehyun!”

Bursts of firecrackers go off in union at the edge of the stage, and confetti falls down as the music fanfare increases. Yuta looks amused as he laughs at Jaehyun’s celebration jog around the stage.

Privately at the judge’s panel, Johnny asks Taeyong, “Why did you vote for him?”

Taeyong nudges Johnny’s shoulder. "You already know why, don't you?"

Johnny makes a face. "How could I? It's not like I have your power of precognition."

“My god,” Doyoung groans from the other side. "You're _so_ daft."

Back up on the stage, Jungwoo neatly wraps it up. "Thank you to our sponsors, and of course, to our Second Star viewers, we couldn't have done it without you. Thank you again and good night!"

The cameras finally blink off, and the audience lights flood the theatre. Everyone expresses their congratulations and farewells before only Johnny and Jaehyun remain.

"Welcome," Johnny finally says, aiming for a businesslike attitude as he walks up to the stage where Jaehyun still stands. "I'm looking forward to working together in a professional manner." He offers a hand, and Jaehyun looks at it with amusement. 

"I'm not," Jaehyun grins, breaking Johnny's straight poise. He ignores the invitation for a handshake, and instead leans in much too close to Johnny’s personal space, hot puffs of breath and wet lips brushing against Johnny's ear. Johnny unravels at the seams, and would have melted if it weren't for another force keeping him together. Jaehyun smirks before he adds, "Not planning on being professional, that is."

Blame the overheated set lights or his pitiful excuse of a good night's sleep or about a million other things grinding away in Johnny's head, but the last shard of self-control snaps inside him.

Within a second, he has Jaehyun pinned to the far end of the stage. Drywall has cracked into dust around them from the force. Johnny hears jagged, breathy laughter within moments so he adds pressure on Jaehyun's chest to shut him up, not quite crushing his ribcage but enough to send a threat, a reminder of who has the upper hand.

This time, Jaehyun finds himself on the receiving end of the whisper as Johnny says, "I can kill you so easily, you know."

"Please,'" Jaehyun breathes below him. His voice is quiet, but the telltale sign of smugness remains. He turns his head on purpose, and the sudden proximity of their lips catapults Johnny backwards to the other end of the stage. Jaehyun snorts at the reaction, and repositions himself to comfortably lean back. "I’ve been dying for you to say that."

Despite his endless teasing, Jaehyun patiently waits for Johnny to make the first move, tempting him, daring him to act on the flurry of emotions pooling in the pit of his stomach. Johnny holds his ground despite every muscle in his body screaming to touch the villain again. 

But then Jaehyun looks at Johnny in that one special way he only uses with Johnny, with a face that demands to be ruined in all its exquisite perfection. And just like that, Johnny has lost all of his playing cards.

Johnny is irrefutably and irreparably taken.

[]

“What if this is all a ploy,” Johnny asks, in bed later that night as he stares up at the ceiling. “So you can throw me off my superhero game, as some kind of distraction-”

“How _dare_ you.” Jaehyun scrambles up to his knees and straddles Johnny to punch his chest with each word. “I’m more than a distraction. I am your lifegiver. I’m your reason for living. You can’t go on without me.”

“That’s exactly it.” Johnny catches Jaehyun’s hands and holds them down with his own, hardly noticing Jaehyun’s feeble attempts to escape from his clutches as he continues thinking out loud. “What if I put you ahead of this city’s needs?”

“Do I need to remind you that I’m an excellent sidekick?” Jaehyun asks, eventually giving up on freeing himself. “Plus, I have a reputation to maintain. I’m gonna make damn sure I do my job well, even if that means beating you up into shape if I see you slacking.”

“Oh, you think you can beat me up, huh? Cute,” Johnny grins, finally letting go of Jaehyun’s hands.

Jaehyun immediately shifts to sloppily lie down on top of Johnny, their legs tangling together. He lifts up his head, hair tousled and eyes drowsy but his messy, swollen lips spread into a smile as he looks fondly down at Johnny. “You’re cuter.” 

Warmth spreads across Johnny’s cheeks. “You must like me a lot, don’t you?”

Jaehyun burrows his face into Johnny’s shoulder. “Very much.” 

**Author's Note:**

> ♡


End file.
